Mark Cavendish will bring to tomorrow's road race in the Commonwealth Games one of the biggest reputations in cycling. Although some of Britain's greatest stars have opted to stay away from the Games due to what they perceive as health risks, while others have opted to prepare for the European track championships instead, the Manxman will end his 2010 season in Delhi and will be one of the men to watch on the flat course where, in some parts, the tarmac was being replaced last night.

In the absence of his strongest Manx team‑mate Peter Kennaugh – one of the riders from Team Sky who has remained at home – Cavendish will be outnumbered tomorrow and will be heavily marked, with the entire field aware that in a sprint finish he will be the favourite. He will take that in his stride, however, aware that the race will give him an opportunity to repeat the gold medal he won on the track in 2006, at 21.

"I'm going to muck in and get on with it," he said. "I want to be with my mates on the team. I love representing the Isle of Man – there are some good lads in the team. I only get the opportunity to do this once every four years, so I'm glad to be doing it. These are the guys I've grown up riding my bike with, the guys I train with when I'm on the island, so I want to be with them."

The down-to-earth way Cavendish is approaching the Games is summed up by one anecdote: his professional team HTC-Columbia offered to find and fund five-star accommodation for him but the sprinter opted to stay in the much maligned athletes' village. He had been sent photographs of the accommodation during the controversy over whether or not it was fit for purpose and is understood to have felt it did not look much worse than the average hotel. "He was certainly not put off," said his agent, Chris Evans-Pollard. "He definitely wouldn't have stayed anywhere other than the village, as the reason for being there is to be with his team-mates."

The Games will draw a curtain on a season in which Cavendish came agonisingly close – for the second year running – in the points standings in the Tour de France, where he won five stages, pushing his personal tally to 15. He then landed the points prize against his own expectations in the Vuelta a España, winning three stages along the way.

The sprint that decided the green jersey in the Vuelta was one of the toughest he has ever done, he said, with a broken spoke in his back wheel almost costing him the award. "I thought the wheel was completely buckled. Normally I would have pulled out but I had to finish in the top four to win the jersey. I was in the red for the last four kilometres. It was the hardest sprint I've ever done."

This season Cavendish has survived a tough few months following an operation on his wisdom teeth but the biggest test, he says, has been dealing with the weight of expectation that goes with his status as the fastest sprinter on the block.

"If I win, it's normal. If I don't win, the story is 'Cavendish loses'. If I get beaten once in 15 races, it's 'Cavendish has lost his throne'. If I lose or come second now, it's failure. It's frustrating rather than anything else." Tomorrow at least the pressure will be on the Australians after their strong showing in the velodrome.